Pets & Pregnancy/Pets & Babies #2

[nay23]

I agree with kazbah on the taking them outside before bed and encouraging her to wee, I do it with my two. and It seems to work but I think sometimes dogs have accidents too
I also think that a lot of the time dogs pick up on your hormones and she can probably sense something big is happening and is not really sure how to deal with it so her normal behaviour is changing. My mum is a dog behaviour specialist and I know she would say to try and stick to your routine, maybe with a bit of extra mum/emma time and try to make her feel comfortable about the changes. And when you clean up her accidents, always put her outside first not as a punishment but just so she doesn't see you clean it up. Dogs associate that with directly making you do something and you don't want to turn it into an attention seeking behaviour. If you are starting to set up the nursery maybe that is what set her off. I would take her to where the new furniture etc is and feed her some treats and praise her so that she sees it all as a positive experience!
I know ive babbled a little bit but you sound like you really want to do the best thing for your dog!
I guess the best advice is lots of love and praise and Im sure she will be ok and your carpet won't suffer any more
Good luck
xox
Jellybean due 8th Sept 07

[Janie]

Thanks Kaz and Nay

Ever since we've had her we've had the routine of putting her outside just before going to bed. I tell her to go 'on the grass' and she understands what this means. Most of the time she just wees straight away, occasionally she looks at me like 'I just went!' and won't do anything. I usually then give her a few minutes and if nothing happens we just go to bed.

She has slept in our bed from very early on (thanks DH!) but we stopped that months ago. I bought her a basket and put it in the lounge room to get her used to it as a 'good thing' to be used during the day, and then moved it into the bedroom. She has never had any dramas sleeping in it, but occasionally we wake up to find her on the bed! I know the next step is to move her out of the bedroom, but it's so hard! I think I will probably start that in two weeks when I've finished work, in case she drives us nuts. Mind you, I thought that would happen when we put her in the basket, but it wasn't a drama at all! She just knew what she was meant to do.

We got a new lounge suite a couple of months ago, and she's not allowed on that, so no more jumping on the couch. I'm trying to get her used to being outside when someone is home so she doesn't bark if I put her out there when home with the bub. Don't get me wrong, I have no intentions of turning into an outside dog because we're having a baby. She is not the sort of dog you can do that to (she sleeps about 23 hours a day anyway!), we wouldn't have got her if that's what we wanted! We wanted a family dog, and we've got one. But I'm also aware that there may be times when I just need her to be outside.

Last night seems to have been a success, I made sure she weed before we went to bed, and then she was up twice during the night to go out. That's really not her normal routine, but at least she got us up to let her out And I really praised her each time she did it. I guess my main concern is how we handle it. I don't want to tell her off if that's not the right way to go about it, but I don't want it to become a habit either IYKWIM?

Nay, I get what you mean about it becoming an attention seeking exercise, so maybe if it keeps happening we'll just play it really low key and see how we go? I know that sometimes dogs have accidents, but my gut feeling on this one is that she's really picking up on the changes going on around here, even though I can't think of anything that might have triggered it in the last week. Like you said, it's probably just my hormones! It's starting to feel quite real to us now, so maybe she can sense that too.

Thanks so much for your advice, and sorry again for the long post! I just want to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible when we bring Norbert home!

ETA Thanks Kaz! I'll have to pop up to my vet to get some!

[nay23]

im glad that last night seemed to be ok! and I am really happy to hear that your dog is part of your family too! I hate that people give away their pets or make them outside animals just cos of a baby! I mean your not gunna put your 2 year old outside when you have a new baby so why do it to your cat or dog? Ha ha ha thats my vent!
Good luck with everything!
xox
Jellybean due 8th Sept 07